When a parent calls City Smarts wanting to begin SHSAT prep too far in advance, I tell them to call me back in the spring.

The SHSAT is very much a goldilocks kind of test. It’s a tricky, rigorous exam that does demand months of practice (from most students, at least), but too much tutoring is a certain recipe for burn-out.

While there is a ton of excellent free SHSAT study material out there (in the form of the official SHSAT handbooks), there has been a lack of guidance on how and when to utilize these resources. In this post, you will find links to every (unique) handbook as well as important information about each exam.

This year, the DOE is making important changes to the SHSAT once again, and City Smarts will be ready. According to a letter from the DOE, the 2018 SHSAT will now include reading comprehension passages drawn from literary fiction and poetry. This means that in addition to answering questions about non-fiction passages, students will be asked to analyze short pieces from genres like myths, historical fiction, or satire, and will need to study the form and structure of poetry.